Litter boxes are commonly used to provide animals such as cats, small dogs, ferrets etc. with a relatively sanitary and secure location to urinate and defecate.
A typical litter box includes a floor surrounded by a sidewall. In use, the floor of a litter box is typically covered with a layer of litter. The litter is intended to absorb moisture and suppress odour.
At a minimum, the height of the sidewall must be sufficient to contain the layer of litter which covers the floor. Preferably, however, the height of the sidewall is also sufficient to contain litter which may be stirred up by the animal during use of the litter box and urine which may be sprayed by the animal during use of the litter box. As a result, the height of the sidewall of a litter box may vary.
A litter box may also include a cover so that the litter box is enclosed. Depending upon the height of the sidewall and upon whether the litter box includes a cover, the litter box may or may not include an entrance gap to facilitate ingress to and egress from the litter box.
Litter box covers tend not to be fully satisfactory for containing litter and urine. In many cases, litter and especially urine may infiltrate the joint between the litter box and the cover, causing leakage from the litter box. In addition, some animals exhibit an aversion to using a litter box which includes a cover.
As a result, a relatively high sidewall is potentially more effective than a litter box cover for containing litter and urine within the litter box. A relatively high sidewall, however, typically requires that the litter box be equipped with an entrance gap in the sidewall. Unfortunately, the entrance gap constitutes an avenue for litter and urine to exit the litter box. It can therefore be very difficult to maintain cleanliness and hygiene outside of the litter box in the vicinity of the entrance gap, which is a problem associated with the use of litter boxes having entrance gaps.
The entrance gap problem may be exacerbated by a tendency of an animal to walk into the litter box headfirst through the entrance gap and then to use the litter box without turning around. The problem also appears to be more noticeable in the case of elderly animals, particularly elderly cats, who sometimes exhibit a tendency to spray urine upward, often through the entrance gap.
The entrance gap problem could be reduced or eliminated if an animal using the litter box could be urged to be oriented so that full advantage could be taken of the relatively high sidewall in order to contain litter and urine. In other words, if the animal can be pointed in an appropriate direction within the litter box, litter and urine will tend to be thrown or sprayed against the sidewall and not in the direction of the entrance gap.
There may be other reasons for wishing to position an animal in a desired orientation in the litter box. As one example, it may be desirable to keep certain areas of the floor of the litter box relatively clean (such as the area in front of an entrance gap) so that dirty litter and animal waste does not become lodged in the animal's paws and become tracked throughout the environment outside of the litter box.
As another example, the litter box may be designed so that a certain area of the litter box is designated for the deposition of animal waste. Examples of such litter boxes are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,223 (Winborn), U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,397 (Lowe) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,544 (Hammond). In these circumstances, it may be desirable to urge the animal toward a desired orientation which will position the animal over the designated area.
As a result, there is a need for an animal litter box which is configured to urge an animal toward a desired orientation in the litter box.